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posted by martyb on Thursday September 09 2021, @12:33PM   Printer-friendly
from the better-nate-than-lever dept.

The James Webb telescope has a bona fide launch date:

The telescope is ready. So is the rocket. It's time.

NASA announced in August that the James Webb Space Telescope had passed its final ground-based tests and was being prepared for shipment to its launch site in Kourou, French Guiana. Now, the oft-delayed $10 billion telescope has an official launch date: December 18, 2021.

The date was announced on Wednesday by NASA, the European Space Agency, and the launch provider, Arianespace. The space telescope will launch on an Ariane 5 rocket.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope launch delayed to December:

NASA's long-awaited and high-powered James Webb Space Telescope won't begin observations this year after NASA and its counterpart the European Space Agency (ESA) announced another launch delay.

[...] "We now know the day that thousands of people have been working towards for many years, and that millions around the world are looking forward to," Günther Hasinger, ESA's director of science, said in an agency statement. "Webb and its Ariane 5 launch vehicle are ready, thanks to the excellent work across all mission partners. We are looking forward to seeing the final preparations for launch at Europe's Spaceport."

[...] Once the James Webb Space Telescope launches, the spacecraft will spend about a month traveling the 930,000 miles (1.5 kilometers) out to its destination, the second Lagrange point (L2)[*]. Here, the observatory can enjoy a relatively stable "parking spot" orbit on the opposite side of Earth from the sun. The location is crucial for the telescope, which must remain well shielded from the heat that would interfere with the infrared capabilities on the observatory.

The telescope's instruments won't turn on until two or three months after launch, and typical science won't begin until about six months after launch, according to ESA.

[*] Wikipedia entry on Lagrange points and the specific entry on L2.

Hopefully all will go well with the launch and deployment.


Original Submission

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JWST Launch Christmas Morning 55 comments

James Webb Space Telescope reaches launch pad for Christmas liftoff

The James Webb Space Telescope is due to launch on Saturday (Dec. 25) during a 32-minute window that opens at 7:20 a.m. EST (1220 GMT). The massive observatory will blast off from Kourou, French Guiana, atop an Ariane 5 rocket operated by European launch provider Arianespace. You can watch launch coverage live at Space.com beginning at 6 a.m. EST (1100 GMT) courtesy of NASA or you can watch directly at the agency's website.

ESA launch kit (PDF).

Previously:


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 09 2021, @01:17PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 09 2021, @01:17PM (#1176238)

    does anybody know the planned first light target?

    a quick search just has articles rabiding on about first light galaxies post the dark age. all very cool but not what i was wondering about at this time.

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday September 09 2021, @01:32PM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday September 09 2021, @01:32PM (#1176246) Journal

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope#After-launch_deployment [wikipedia.org]
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_James_Webb_Space_Telescope#After-launch_plans [wikipedia.org]

      Looks like about 2 months from launch to get it in position and unfolded, and another 5 months or so to let it cool down and undergo tests.

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    • (Score: 5, Informative) by FatPhil on Thursday September 09 2021, @01:50PM

      by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Thursday September 09 2021, @01:50PM (#1176253) Homepage
      Once it's taken its 1 month journey to L2, and is fully unfolded, it'll spend its first month just with mechanical and system self tests. L+2M - L+3M will be fundamental sensor and optical (yea, yeah, IR) tests. L+4M - L+5M it'll start taking test images. The plan is that the first "mission" image will be taken at about L+6M. I'm not sure how date-sensitive the ERSs, GTOs, and GOs that are booked will be, so it might not be obvious yet which observation is run first, the order hasn't been announced publicly AFAIK, and cards are close to the chest still:
      “The first observing cycle with a new observatory is always special, especially one as powerful and highly anticipated as Webb. We had an incredibly interesting couple of weeks of intense proposal reviews during which the reviewers did a great job of sorting through and ranking all the possible science cases proposed. I commend them for their hard work, especially under pandemic conditions,” said Sembach. “I’m very pleased to be able to approve such a strong science program for the observatory. These observations are going to provide stunning views of the universe and lead us in new investigative directions that will set the stage for decades of research.”
      -- https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2021/news-2021-018

      Personally, I presume it will be one of the ERSs, as several of them are little more than "test what it can do when looking at $OBJECTTYPE", they're listed here: https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/science-execution/approved-ers-programs
      Here are the approved GTOs: https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/science-execution/approved-programs/cycle-1-gto
      And finally, the GOs, which I presume will have lower priority: https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/science-execution/approved-programs/cycle-1-go

      However, given the limited scienciness of some of the ERSs, and the fact that the tests will be taking images through all the instruments - it almost seems a bit artificial to say that those images don't count because nobody specifically called them an "observation".
      --
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  • (Score: 2) by Snotnose on Thursday September 09 2021, @02:18PM (1 child)

    by Snotnose (1623) on Thursday September 09 2021, @02:18PM (#1176265)

    The meter I use shows 1.5 kilometers as being a little over a mile. We're not gonna have another Mars like pounds vs newtons problem, are we?

    --
    Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 09 2021, @04:46PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 09 2021, @04:46PM (#1176299)

      Article says "1.5 million kilometers", so either space.com fixed it after submission or submitter fails at copypasta..

  • (Score: 2) by Barenflimski on Thursday September 09 2021, @02:31PM (3 children)

    by Barenflimski (6836) on Thursday September 09 2021, @02:31PM (#1176268)

    I think that at this point, we should forgo the launch and move it straight to the Smithsonian. I'd hate to see anything happen to it where we might not be able to memorialize it forever.

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday September 09 2021, @02:55PM (1 child)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday September 09 2021, @02:55PM (#1176274) Journal

      Like one of the hundreds of mechanical parts on it failing, and then it drifts around in space, never to be used or serviced?

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      • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday September 09 2021, @04:49PM

        by Freeman (732) on Thursday September 09 2021, @04:49PM (#1176301) Journal

        In the event that it actually make's it up there, that part is a given. How long will it function? That is the key. In the event it lasts 20 years, I would say that's a good long run. Worst case scenario, there is a rapid unplanned disassembly at launch.

        --
        Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 10 2021, @08:55AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 10 2021, @08:55AM (#1176539)

      Reminds me of an episode in one of the Star Trek (maybe another sci-fi?) series where they quickly mentioned the "heated" debate about whether to put one of the famous rovers on Mars in a museum there or bring it back to Earth.

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